Going insane to compensate for xmas this year!

[Teacher12345]

I am worried about how shit xmas is going to be this year. I want to turn our house into a grotto - cheaply if possible! Any ideas on how?
I'm going to do a xmas film every saturday with xmas snacks and then every day when they break up from school.
Build a gingerbread house
Can you buy snow to mae snowmen with?
Any other ideas????

I always get a roll of cotton wool and put in on all the surfaces, shelves, round the dirt on pot plants, under the telly so that it looks like snow everywhere!
Also my nan always put a green lightbulb in the hall at Christmas so when we visited and she opened the door it was like walking straight into a grotto!
Apart from these it's just lights lights lights as many as you can.
And Christmas duvets on all the beds!

Depends on how old your kids are. If young then Christmas crafts, decorating the tree, making shaped biscuits and icing them, icing the Christmas cake, making paper chains.
If older kids/teens - I think you’ll be lucky to get them out if their rooms!!

Kids are younger. Eldest will be 8. Lights are a good call. And I am definitely going for Xmas duvets!

We have bulbs that turn different colours so could go green or red easily!

I also find the most magical thing about Christmas is the lights. There are lots of light up decorations as well as really lovely fairy lights (my favourite I bought last year from Asda were teeny tiny glass jars filled with fake snow, a line sprig and a cranberry or holly berry with a little cork lid). I also love those little wooden light up villages, could you create a display of those? I tried fake snow one year but it dried up and went weird, the cotton roll sounds fun!

Hobbycraft is your friend here. I bought a few of these in various sizes last year and created a little Christmas village on the mantelpiece. They have loads of great Christmas stuff.

Following

They are so cute! I'm going to hobby craft later this week so will see what they have out.

You need smell OP!

Stick cloves into oranges. Delia Smith mincemeat cooked in the oven makes the house smell like Christmas. Evergreens. Scented candles.

Fill gorgeous glass bowls, and wooden boxes with crinkly wrappered sweets, and Bon Bon's. Scatter them around the house.

And my dc used to make these when they were little. You can make MASSIVE ones and hang them from the ceiling.

Theme each room - living room - Santa's grotto, kitchen - winter wonderland, bedroom - heavily strung with paper chains, toilet - er...elves' workshop.

Sigh, I love Christmas.

just a little warning - if you do it this year then next year and so on they will expect it too so I would suggest not going too overboard.

Yes Christmas will be a bit different this year but I wouldn't get too carried away trying to make it something amazing as kids are usually pleased with quite simple stuff and if you decorate the house too much you will probably get fed up with it.

What are the things you NORMALLY do at Christmas that you will miss doing this year?

seeing lights somewhere? (can walk round nearby roads)
Santa visit? (there are virtual Santa chats this year)
Theatre (I would be amazed if one of the panto companies doesn't put a show online)
garden centres near us are still planning on having reindeer
seeing family - zoom

presents and food etc can still be the same as normal and hanging up stockings, putting out mince pie and so on isn't affected.

I really don't think children will be as affected as we all think they will.

but baubles and twinkly lights work really well in big lanterns! look beautiful and we keep one out all year round

I bought a Santa loo seat cover. Dh made the cistern look like a chimney with white wadding!!

Indoor snow ball fight.

Ooh following. I will have a 17 month old at Christmas - I know she won't have a clue, but I will! I was just thinking yesterday about all the things we were going to do that won't be able to (panto, light shows, grottos etc) She'll deff love lights and decorations.

Im trying to persuade my Dad to dress up as father Christmas and knock on the back gate "to check there's room to park the reindeer" a week or so before Christmas, and then maybe leave a variety box for DS and have a chat from the back gate to the back door. Obviously he can't come close, because FC is strictly social distancing so he's not ill for Christmas Eve. 🎅

Something that I used to do when DD was young was give her a shoebox full of strips of different coloured paper and a roll of sellotape and her kid-safe scissors (when really young, I always supervised, but she was fine to do it herself by about 6). She could work away when it suited her to make and extend her paper chains over a few weeks. In just odd minutes here and there while I was cooking say, or spend an hour on a rainy afternoon together doing it. And then have lots of chain to hang in the hall and her room.

Some great ideas guys thanks!

We are going to try to recreate a Christmas market at home - fairy lights in the garden, barbecue if bratwurst, pancakes, German market music ( there are playlists on Spotify!) and everyone on the family is going to have a little craft stall.

Copperblack that sounds awesome. We were supposed to tour Germany this easter and obviously it didn't happen. We did a munich themed party in the garden instead so can use up the decorations again!! And love bratwurst!! I've got the huge tankards!!

Hobby craft has snow blankets in just now if you want a "white xmas"

Yes I felt the need to start early this year too. I've been ordering beautiful Christmas themed picture books online and they arrive in the post from time to time like presents. Very exciting.

Both my DC have a small artificial xmas tree (few pounds from b&q and other places). They have their own lights and mini decorations to decorate it how they wish for their bedrooms.

We do have a main tree in the lounge and also a smaller one in the kitchen. We love Christmas so do decorate most rooms.

My mum literally puts coloured lights up all over her lounge.
Not to my taste personally, but the children do love it!

What a lovely heartwarming thread!

I always do a gingerbread house with DD
Agree orangea with cloves in - start to buy bits each week now. Cloves, Christmas cake ingredients, DIY gingerbread house as soon as they hit the shops.

Also bought a larger version of those sweet little tealight houses in B&M this week.

Trying to find a big lantern in a charity shop if I can so I can put fake snow and fairy lights in it.

We buy a tiny real tree and hang personalised tags on with all the dpets names on!! Even our snake has it's name on!

Like this..